US Patent Publication 2014/0148688, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes an invasive medical probe that includes an insertion tube, having a proximal end and a distal end configured for insertion into a body of a patient. Multiple arms extend distally from the distal end of the insertion tube. Each arm has a distal tip and includes a magnetic transducer and an adhesive element, which is configured to removably attach the distal tip to a tissue surface within the body.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,368,285, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a method for intracardially mapping a condition such as an electrical or mechanical property of a chamber of a heart. The method uses a catheter having a distal tip and at least one condition sensor contained therein or proximate thereto. The at least one sensor is capable of sensing condition information in the chamber and provides the three-dimensional position of the catheter tip in a positional frame of reference. The method includes the steps of acquiring first and second images of the chamber. The images are acquired from different projections and contain topological information of the chamber. The chamber images are registered with the positional frame of reference. The catheter distal tip is advanced into the catheter and is navigated to acquisition points under the guidance of topological information contained in or derived from the images. Condition and position information are acquired at each of the acquisition points, the points being sufficient in number and spacing to permit the generation of a map of the condition in the chamber. The topological information used to guide the navigation of the catheter is preferably a three-dimensional reconstruction of the chamber derived from the topological information contained in the images.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,937,132, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a method and apparatus to deliver medical devices to targeted locations within human tissues using imaging data. The method enables the target location to be obtained from one imaging system, followed by the use of a second imaging system to verify the final position of the device. In particular, the invention discloses a method based on the initial identification of tissue targets using MR imaging, followed by the use of ultrasound imaging to verify and monitor accurate needle positioning. The invention can be used for acquiring biopsy samples to determine the grade and stage of cancer in various tissues including the brain, breast, abdomen, spine, liver, and kidney. The method is also useful for delivery of markers to a specific site to facilitate surgical removal of diseased tissue, or for the targeted delivery of applicators that destroy diseased tissues in-situ.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,653,426, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes an endoscope-like image taking method that includes providing at least one peculiar index, which can be discriminated from other portions on an MR image, at the tip of a catheter, previously inserting a metal guide wire for guiding the catheter into a body cavity of a patient inserting the catheter into the body cavity along the guide wire, executing an MR imaging sequence of a plurality of sliced images intersecting the guide wire, reconstructing three-dimensional image data based upon the nuclear magnetic resonance signals, which are received by the guide wire, and determining the tip position and the inserting direction of the catheter by detecting the peculiar index provided at the tip of the catheter based upon the three-dimensional image data, and reconstructing the center projected image using the three-dimensional image data and setting the tip position and the inserting direction of the catheter as a view point and a line-of-sight direction and displaying the center projected image on a display means.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,974,460, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, concerns a device for adjusting the position of a screw that is able to move a part of a surgical instrument, said device comprising: —a stem comprising a tip suited to the head of the screw, —an actuated system for driving said stem in rotation, communication means to communicate with a control unit, such that the control unit transmits to the actuated system the number of turns to apply to the stem to reach the target position of the screw. The invention also concerns a surgical system for alignment of surgical guide means, comprising: —a positioning unit comprising a fixed part and a mobile part supporting the surgical guide means, the position of said mobile part being adjustable with respect to the fixed part by screws, —a referencing unit for detecting the position of the positioning unit with respect to a target position of the surgical guide means, —a control unit for computing the target position of screws, —said device for adjusting the positions of the screws.
US Patent Publication 2013/0083988, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a method for device visualization that includes receiving a set of physical characteristics including a description of spatial relationships of a plurality of markers within a device. Radiographic data of the device within a subject is acquired. An approximate location of each of the plurality of markers is identified within the radiographic data. A trajectory function is constructed for the device within the subject based on the identified approximate locations of each of the markers and the received set of physical characteristics. A section function is constructed for the device based on the set of physical characteristics and a 3D model is generated for the device based on the constructed trajectory function and the section function. A rendering of the 3D model is displayed on a display device.
US Patent Publication 2011/0230758, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a method and system for determining the current position of a selected portion of a medical catheter inserted into a tubular organ of the body of a patient, the method comprising the procedures of inserting a medical positioning system (MPS) catheter into the tubular organ, acquiring a plurality of mapping positions within the tubular organ, displaying a mapping position representation of the mapping positions, constructing a mapping path according to the mapping positions, inserting the medical catheter into the tubular organ until the selected portion reaches the initial position, displaying an operational image of the tubular organ, a path representation of the mapping path, and an initial position representation of the initial position superimposed on the operational image, registering the selected portion with the initial position, measuring a traveled length of the medical catheter within the tubular organ from the initial position, and estimating the current position.